I have checked out your blog and from that learned you are a fan of Northeast Nursery. Therefore I conclude you live north of Boston in Massachusetts. I do as well.

Lilac would be my first suggestion. Do you have a maximum desired height for these shrubs?

If you prefer a summer bloomer, you could mix Clethra alnifolia with the lilacs. Don't go to Northeast for those if you want big ones because they are only carrying two dwarfed cultivars of it (I checked yesterday).

There are also viburnums that could be used, although I strongly encourage you to avoid the highbush cranberry viburnum species. A leaf beetle is on its way to our area that completely strips those viburnums. It avoids the thick, leathery leaved viburnums, so if you like viburnums make a point of getting one like that. I can't remember its name, but I know there's at least one viburnum species that gets large and also has leathery leaves it usually holds through the winter.

Unless your fence is at least partially shaded I do NOT recommend you get an azalea, rhododendron, or mountain laurel. They sometimes tolerate full sun, but they never welcome it.

thank you so much for all the info York_rose. this will teach me to post right before work LOL. I forgot lots of info, this spot gets FULL sun all day long. from sun up to sun down. I love lilacs too, if possible I would like something to bloom for a long period, at the very least spring to mid summer.

If you're in Zone 6 or the area you want to plant is a bit sheltered, try Daphne 'Summer Ice." Great smell, very long bloom time.

My suspicion is that as long as there's a true stretch of fence you're going to be better off getting a limited variety of flowering shrubs with staggered bloom times. That way there will always be something blooming, even if not every shrub is blooming,

My mockorange has a fairly long bloom time and the scent is delicious.

A fast grower that blooms all summer and into the fall (and smells nice) is 'Darlow's Enigma' rose. Easy keeper with no special requirements. Another easy keeping rose is 'Harison's Yellow' but it's scent is rather unusual (it's a rosa foetida cultivar which tells you something). I like the scent, though, and it blooms for a long time in the spring.

I also like the purple and variegated sambucus cultivars. not sure about flower scent, though.

I'd suggest several shrubs with staggered bloom time--Viburnum carlesii (several cultivars) or V. judii, a non suckering lilac (one of those bred by Father Fiala should work), Abelia mosanensis (a deciduous abelia with terrific scent and great fall color), Philadelphus 'Innocence' (the most fragrant mockorange). This will give you a long season of scent.

If you decide upon a Viburnum or mock orange (Philadelphus), make sure you get one known to be fragrant. Some Viburnums have wonderful fragrance while others are completely scentless. Mock orange, while usually all one species, can run all over the map when it comes to quantity of fragrance. My parents had a whole line of them along the back of the property when I was a kid, and while I loved to check out scents try as I did, I never detected one whiff of anything from the flowers. Nothing. I know there are heavily scented cultivars, but my parents didn't have them.

The viburnums and the mock orange 'Innocence' I mentioned in my previous post have strong fragrance, though it's true that many viburnums and mock oranges don't.

I know this is a very late response but it might help someone else with this situation. My son planted 3 "Otto Luyken" Laurels about 4 years ago. They are on the north side of his house in zone5. They are evergreen and beautiful all winter long and in the spring when they bloom you can smell them when you get out of the car.

Heptacodium has a very long season of interest, with white flowers followed by very ornamental red calyces; the peeling bark is beautiful in winter as well. It is supposed to have a great scent, but mine are new as of summer 2007, so I can't attest to the fragrance. Lilacs, IMHO, are of very limited interest when not in bloom, unless they have mildew in which case they can draw a lot of attention (joking).

My leatherleaf viburnums are scentless; the Dawn Viburnum blooms in late winter and is very fragrant (not sure if it's hardy north of Boston) and the Mayflower (V. carleii, aka Korean spice) is probably the most fragrant of all.

Viburnum leaf beetle is a serious problem, and you'd want to check the Cornell web site for resistant cultivars before going with a viburnum. The beetles can strip the plants *overnight* which could be pretty awful looking if these are planted along the street. Mine are mostly in back corners where, if they are attacked, they at least won't be prominent if denuded. I don't know if any controls are available, but I inspect the branches (per Cornell's instructions) and have not seen these insects yet. It's just a matter of time, though.